The mastermind of Lalithaa Jewelry heist in Tamil Nadu Murugan has passed away on Tuesday in Bengaluru Central prison, according to the statement from the prison. Murugan had been one of the notorious faces in South India with having many cases under his name in many states.

He became widely popular and a threat after he successfully masterminded and looted jewels worth of crores in Lalithaa Jewelry in Trichy, Tamil Nadu last October, and his style of looting in the high-secured and surveilled areas had shocked the state and the looting had made headlines across the country after the CCTV footages in the shop had captured how the looters had managed to drill a hole on the wall of the shop and stole the jewels. 

The heist in the Lalithaa Jewelry occurred in Trichy had irked the police and rest of the jewelers and demanded to detain Murugan and his gang to prevent further heists. In the CCTV footage, Murugan and his gang member were seen wearing face masks to hide their identity and looting in the shop. When the police launched the probe, they unearthed the shocking revelation that he had stolen the jewels worth Rs 13 crore from Lalithaa Jewelry. 

The police had been hunting to arrest mastermind Murugan, who was absconding. They initially detained some of his gang members in and around Trichy and Murugan had got surrendered in Bengaluru court following which he was taken into custody by Bengaluru police and through his confessions, the special police team of Tamil Nadu had recovered the looted jewels of Lalitha Jewelry mart in Trichy.

After he was booked under appropriate sections, Murugan was lodged under judicial custody in Bengaluru Central prison. During the probe, it came to the revelation that there were more than 200 theft cases pending against him in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Puducherry. The police had identified and recovered about 11 kilograms of precious ornaments that were stolen from Lalitha Jewelry mart.

Following his confessions over the thefts, he was lodged in Bengaluru and according to reports, Murugan was suffering from prolonged ailments when he got arrested last year and he had been getting treated at the prison hospital for his ailments and amid the treatments, his health had got deteriorated and the prison department had issued a statement on Tuesday morning that Murugan had passed away in the prison hospital in the wee hours of October 27. The reports stated that his body would be handed over to his family after completing the essential formalities.